Mr. Millette- Teacher Feature

Teacher feature is a weekly column about one staff member from our faculty here at Edmonds Woodway! In other words, teacher features gives you 10 things that you did not know about your teachers.

Our first teacher feature of the year is Mr. Millette! Currently, Mr. Millette teaches IB, honors, and regular biology, however he has taught many different types of science classes in the past, and he sometimes teaches Integrated Physical Sciences. Millette’s classroom is located in F107, near the South entrance of the school.

Q: Did you have a childhood pet?

“I did. Mostly cats.” My first pet was named after the Disney character Sunshine the Lonely Cougar.

Q: What was the craziest thing that happened to you during high school?

I mean, honestly, dancing in drag with my soccer teammates during a school wide talent show.Me and my buddies got a bunch of cheerleaders uniforms and got up on stage. It was pretty fun.

Q:What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Vanilla. Vanilla is an overlooked flavor and is very subtle, but a good vanilla ice cream is a wonderful taste experience. You could say I’m a traditionalist where ice cream is concerned.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

I make sure that my wife is happy. In a relationship, that’s an important thing. So a lot of my free time is spent, at the moment, raising a family. That’s what you do.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to?

I think I have a very wide variety of musical tastes. I listen to classical when I’m working or driving because it keeps me from going too quickly. Ever since I decided to listen to classical when I’m driving, I’ve had a safe driving record. But I also like soul, blues, and jazz. I also tend to like alternative rock and modern rock. “I like to think I have good taste.”

Q: Did you do any extra curriculars or sports in high school?

I ran track and played soccer. I was in sports for all three seasons. I tried to do a lot of extra curriculars for “all the reasons seniors do extracurriculars.” And I did a little bit with yearbook, a little bit with a couple of clubs that we made up… for, you know, padding the “ol’ college applications.”

Q: What is one of your pet peeves? Why?

People in a parking lot leaving their cars running. Living in Seattle and running a car’s air conditioner on a beautiful summer day when the temperature’s perfect, but all the windows are closed. You’re running your air conditioner by, you know, burning fossil fuels.

Q: If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? Why is that?

Alexander the Great because he’s done amazing things. I think it would be an interesting experience. “I mean basically, a man in the age of not traveling very far traveled the world and did things that no one else was able to do for thousands of years, you know, change the nature of European history and the history of near Asia — and founded a very cool city in Alexandria.”

Q: What is the funniest thing a student has ever said to you?

“ ‘Dear Mr. Millette, I’m sorry for starting a fire when I should’ve been doing my work.’ In a letter — of apology.”

Q: By request, why do you have a dead possum in your room?

“If you had a dead possum, in a basket, would you hide it away so that no one could see it, or would you share it?”

Q: So then I think the better question is why do you have a dead possum in a basket?

The woman that did all of the taxidermies that you see in my room had a pet possum. She was a teacher in Alaska, and one of the things that we got from her estate when it was donated to the school was the possum in the basket. “Out of respect for her skills, I like to maintain the possum.” And she’s done some beautiful stuff.

Q: Have you named the possum yet?

“Uhh I have not. I try not to name dead animals.”

Well there you have it! From vanilla ice cream to drag dancing and dead possums, Mr. Millette is quite an interesting guy. Come visit Warrior Word next week for our next teacher feature.

Your “teacher features” are “sensass”! (Short for “sensational” in French). I’ve enjoyed catching up on previous and current “teacher features.”

In Edmonds it’s been great to have Mr. Millette’s support and help with efforts to rescue and protect our Edmonds Marsh, as well as our streams. As Conservation Chair for the Snohomish Group of the Sierra Club, I appreciate Mr. Millette’s getting young adults engaged in protection of our environment. The EWHS teachers that I’ve gotten to know this year are terrific, EWHS students are very fortunate to have them. The administrators, too, are some of the friendliest and best I’ve ever known. Huge thanks to all of them!